There s no doubt that Denver s Chris Andersen gets a clear picturethat he s a favorite among fans, including these poster-holding supportersat a game in New Orleans during the first round of the playoffs.They were hanging out courtside after the game.

John Azua spends his days amid an ornithological oasis at the Denver Zoo, examining the planet’s most fascinating flocks, but it’s not until he heads home and turns on the tube that he sees the rarest of birds — a multicolored, sky-soaring, wing-flapping beast, a hybrid of an ostrich, eagle and peacock known to Nuggets fans as, simply, “The Birdman.”

“I think there’s enough room in Denver for a couple Birdmen,” quipped Azua, the zoo’s curator of birds. “And it gives a lot of popularity to a group of animals that I’m in love with.”

The Nuggets’ Birdman isn’t an all-star, doesn’t start and seldom scores, but he has emerged into a full- blown sports cult hero along the Front Range, adored by everyone from shrieking teenage girls to shrieking adult men. And, most important for the Nuggets, Chris Andersen is playing a key role in the team’s 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal playoff series against Dallas, which resumes at 3 p.m. today.

This 6-foot-10 Birdman, his wings splattered with tattoos and his hair spiked like a rooster, is the NBA’s No. 2 shot-blocker and No. 1 super sub among fans.

“He’s an electric type of player that people identify with,” Nuggets coach George Karl said.

Said Birdman: “The fans get my fire going.”

When Andersen checks into a game, generating a buzz throughout the arena, it’s as if a heavyweight champion is entering the ring. Before Tuesday’s Game 2 at Pepsi Center, Andrea Stephens and Lindsey Green were, clinically, sane. But, midway through the first quarter, Andersen hopped toward the scorer’s table, and the two 20-somethings went cuckoo for Birdman — Stephens screaming and maniacally twirling a towel, Green flapping her arms like wings and piercing nearby ears with the birdcall: “Caaaaaaw! Caaaaaaw!”

The more Birdman soars, the more the Nuggets win, the more Birdman fever spreads. Five weeks ago, the Nuggets unveiled a Birdman T-shirt in their team stores, and in the past two weeks they’ve come out with youth sizes and women’s cuts, in five different colors.

“We’ve sold several thousands of these T-shirts, and we sell several hundred a game,” said Bill McAdoo, director of consumer products for the Nuggets. “As fast as we print them, I’ve had to triple the orders.”

Even teammates have caught Birdman fever.

“My daughters, their favorite player is Birdman,” said Chauncey Billups, the Nuggets all-star guard. “One of my daughters asked me who my favorite player was, and I said Birdman. You just got to love him — what he’s been through and how he’s evolved as a man. And, as a basketball player, you just got to pull for a guy like that. I’m so proud of him, man.”

Fans appear to take to Birdman because he’s simultaneously larger than life as well as down to earth.

On one hand, he’s a flying giant with red-wing tattoos under each bicep, hair spiked mountain-high and a defensive ferocity to tame a star such as the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki.

On the other hand, the 30-year-old is rather ordinary.

“I’m definitely one of them, one of the people’s people,” Andersen said.

He’s the accidental NBA player, having overcome a hardscrabble upbringing in tiny Iola, Texas, to take an unlikely flight path to the NBA that included a Texas junior college (Blinn), pro ball in China and the developmental league. His career appeared over in 2006 when the NBA suspended him for two years because of substance abuse. Instead, he learned his lessons and came back stronger than ever.

“Birdman beat the worst of human demons,” said Mark Warkentien, Denver’s vice president of basketball operations. “How can you not cheer for this guy?”

After rehabilitation, Andersen took up residence in Denver, where he first broke into the NBA, and played pickup games at local gyms, rediscovering his zest for the game. All of which helped persuade the Nuggets to sign him, for the second time, in July as a free agent.

“The people here, they really know how to keep your spirits up,” said Andersen. “They can relate to me, and I can relate to them.”‘

Today, at 8 a.m., Azua is hosting “Breakfast With the Birds” at the zoo. Fortunately, his clinic ends at 10 a.m., giving him plenty of time to get home in order to spot Denver’s coolest bird.

A look at some other sports cult heroes in the Mile High City, as compiled by The Post sports staff

NUGGETS

Joe Kopicki

He played one season (1984-85) on a team that went to the Western Conference finals. He was the 12th man and played only garbage time, but fans loved to chant for him toward the end of blowouts, yelling at coach Doug Moe: “Come on, Moe. Put in Joe.”

BRONCOS

Glenn “Lumpy” Hyde

The beloved special- teams player just stuck around and developed a fervent following — “Hyde’s Herd” — at the old Mile High Stadium. He was on the roster of 12 pro teams across three leagues, including the Broncos twice.

AVALANCHE

Mike Ricci

With a face that seemed only a mother could love, Ricci and his long hair and tough style struck a chord with the female fans.

ROCKIES

Curtis Leskanic

The closer on the 1995 team that went to the postseason, he once announced that he and his wife would sit in the bathtub and shave each other’s legs.

DENVER BEARS

Joey Meyer

The first baseman hit the longest home run in Denver history, estimated at 582 feet, on June 2, 1987. The ball landed in the upper deck at Mile High Stadium’s east stands, and the team marked the spot with a green seat. He wore No. 50 to honor the fact he was from Hawaii, the 50th state.

DU HOCKEY

Sinuhe Wallinheimo

The University of Denver goalie (1994-96) was one of the last great stars from the old DU Arena. He used to talk to his net, taunt opposing players and play to the crowd.

RAPIDS

Marcelo Balboa

The long-haired, bracelet-wearing defender starred in three World Cups and became the face of the Rapids when the MLS was founded in 1996. He was involved heavily in the community, which enlarged his fan following.

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

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